Bozied and family savor Derby moment

HARRISBURG - Tagg Bozied was hoping for a storybook finish. What he ended up with was a smile, a hug and a good story he'll be able to share with his family for years.

With his father, Bob, visiting from Colorado, the Reading Phillies slugger had the rare opportunity to have his dad pitch to him in the Home Run Derby Wednesday prior to the Eastern League All-Star Game at Metro Bank Park.

Even a homerless performance couldn't ruin that experience for the 30-year-old Bozied.

"For me, with my father being involved, it was much less about a result and just about making a memory," Bozied said.

The result wasn't good. Bozied couldn't get the ball in the air and, like Reading teammate Matt Rizzotti, ended up with a goose egg on the scoreboard.

Altoona's Hector Gimenez won the contest, out-homering Harrisburg's Chris Marrero 8-7 in the final round.

Gimenez homered just once in the first round; Marrero, hitting off the familiar tosses of Senators pitching coach Randy Tomlin, homered six times in the opening round.

At least Bozied was able to laugh about his oh-fer.

"There's only been a handful of times at bat that I've been truly embarrassed on a baseball field," he said, "and that was definitely one of them. The good thing about it, I did so bad that it'll create even more laughs.

"It would have been nice if it had a little bit more of a fairytale ending. But, because it went so bad, it actually swings its way the other way. Now, sitting around the dinner table for Christmas or Thanksgiving you can say, 'Remember that time when it was so awesome - and then you totally blew it?' and everybody laughs."

•Familiar tosses: Reading first baseman Matt Rizzotti brought in his own Home Run Derby pitcher, inviting his old summer league coach, John Maser.

It didn't help, as Rizzotti failed to leave the yard, but he enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

"I hadn't had BP off him in a bunch of years," said Rizzotti, a native of Floral Park, N.Y. "I told him (before the event) that even if I take an oh-fer, you made your Double-A debut."

•Drabek starts: Former Reading pitcher Kyle Drabek got the starting nod for the Eastern Division squad Wednesday night, but that wasn't the highlight of his month.

Ten days earlier he pitched a nine-inning no-hitter against New Britain in a 5-0 victory. It was the first of his six-year professional career, the first five of which were spent in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, including last year in Reading.

"It was amazing," the 22-year-old Drabek said. "The last inning, I've never seen so many people cheer when you throw a strike. It was just an amazing feeling."

It was just the second complete game of his career, so he wasn't familiar with the way those things end.

"Right after it happened, I didn't know what to do," Drabek said, "so I spun around in a circle looking for our catcher, and before I could get to him I was being tackled. I had a smile on my face for three days."

•Phillers: Tagg Bozied didn't play in the game because of a quad injury that sidelined him for 15 games before the break.